Monster Deck Game Play
In Monster Deck, the creatures that come into play will attack the person that flipped the card first and work their way through the players. When a Creature hits the field, the creatures’ first ability automatically triggers (See Triggered Abilities.). The abilities will not trigger again for 3 rounds. If the creature has more than one ability, then it will trigger the next one in line and so on until it repeats. If they have more than one Triggered Ability, then they will cycle through them starting from the top.
Setup Phase:
Before going any further, read the Prelude to get your characters setup so that you can begin the game, then follow the steps below to play.
Monster Deck is a particular play mode where a single player or up to five players can play. (There can actually be more players, but for every 2 players, double the Creature Draw phase (See Creature Draw Phase.).
First, pull a single creature from the Monster Deck that will be the final boss. There are actual creatures that can be used as final bosses, or simply draw one and leave it to chance.
Next shuffle the Monster Deck with the Boss in the deck, or choose where to place the monster for the deck. (This can be the top half, bottom half, very bottom, whatever.)
Draw 7 cards and begin the game, going through the following phases.
Player one
Market Phase:
At the beginning of this phase, place any Value cards on the field. Any buying and selling comes into play here. Use Value Cards, Value at Startup or Rank Values to buy and sell items/weapons, etc. (See Value Cards and See Value at Startup)
To bring a card to the field, the top right hand side of the card will have numbers on balls next to symbols. The amount needed of each type of symbol is the number on each of the balls. (So, if a ball has a 6 on it, then is followed by a Brik symbol, then the card costs 6 Brik to place. All of these must be paid for before the card can be placed on the field. Once paid, the card is placed on the field and the Suspend comes into play. See Suspend Phase, Cards Broken Down.)
When a person runs out of Value they can no longer pay to bring things in this round.
Note: Value Cards, Starting Value, and Rank Values are all useable at this time. Also, if someone has something on the field, they can sell it for 1/2 the price of the item. This will remove the item from the game, however. (See Market, Value Cards, Starting Value and Rank Value.)
Suspend Phase:
Each player, after buying whatever they are going to buy for this Response, will then place their items, weapons, etc. on the field. Each of these cards will have a Suspend of some sort, even if that is 0. (See Suspend Ball.) Once the cards are set on the field, the player can then begin to use them if they are not suspended.
Note: A card with no suspend will still take up an action to bring in and to use. Thus if a person pays for a sword to bring in, they will place it on the field, then it will cost an action to equip the weapon and then an action to unsheathe it for the attack. Then the attack will cost one – two actions as well, depending on the weapon.
Note: A card that has a Suspend that takes longer than this Round, will leave the card face down rather than face up, until it comes into play. Then they will turn it face up and trigger its effects, or pick up the weapon, etc.
Note: No one can attack on the first round of play, unless they have an ability, card, etc. that removes this rule.
Trap Phase:
Unlike other forms of game play, this form has an actual trap phase where all traps can be placed. This is the only time that they can be placed. Traps can only be used for those that they are placed in front of. Thus Player One’s traps can not defend Player Two. However, Player One can not be harmed by the traps of Player Two since they are both seeing where the traps are lain. (See Trap Cards.)
Player Two:
Follow the steps of player one going through the same phases.
Creature Draw Phase.
Follow the steps of player one going through the same phases.
Repeat this until everyone has gone 1 time. At the beginning of the next turn, the person with the least luck in the party will flip the first card from the Monster Deck. When the creature hits the field it will use its first ability on the person with the least luck. Every attack after the first will be against the person with the highest Initiative. (See Luck, Initiative. )
Every 3 rounds another card will be flipped from the Moster Deck, but the next one will be from the person with the next lowest luck, then the second attack will be after the person with the second highest initiative until everyone has had something attack them directly.
Note: If someone attacks the creature and deals 1/4 damage to it, the creature will then target that person until it or the person dies. This will change from one person to another as per the damage dealt. Such as, if player two deals 1/4 damage to a creature and it turns its attention on them, and then player four does the same thing, then the creature will turn its attention on player four.
If it is an Item, then the player gets that item on the field for their own use.
If it is a Trap Card, the player is affected by the trap.
If it is a Choice Card, then the player to Player’s right will read the choices for the player (See Choice Card.).
After drawing 10 cards from the Monster deck, shorten the draw to 1 every 2 rounds. After 20 cards, shorten to 1 every round.
Creature Declaration Phase:
If a creature attacks during the Creature Draw Phase, then the creature will attack the person that drew them first. That person will have to defend whatever the creature is attacking with.
If the creature has triggered abilities, those abilities will trigger first, before a physical attack. The creature’s Suspend will denote how many times the creature can attack in a given round (See Suspend.).
Once the creature has run out of Actions, the creature will move to the Attack Phase of their move.
Note: The Creatures will get a move each time it comes back to them. So if Player 2 flipped the card at the end of their turn, then the creature at the end of their turn gets an attack. If Player 2 flipped the card at the end of their turn and Player 1 flipped a card at the end of their turn, then each creature flipped will have their turn at their given time. This will continue until the creature is defeated or the players are.
Note 2: The creature attacks the person that drew them when they first come to the field. After that first round, they will attack whomever the strongest or weakest creature is, depending on the initiative. (Initiative of 12 or lower will attack the weakest physical player on the field. Initiative of 16 or higher will attack the strongest physical player on the field. 13 through 15 will attack the person with he least amount of luck on the field. This is the way that everyone knows who the creature will attack each round.)
Creature Attack Phase:
Once declaration phase has ended, all those declared attacks, do so. No other attack phase may be used after this one, save with an override or ability. Every attack, weapon, spell, trap, ect. will have a Reach noted by the blue ball at the bottom of the card (See Reach). Most cards will also have Mobility telling you how far they can move noted by the red ball at the bottom of the card (See Mobility). If at any point someone is out of reach of an attacking party, the party is removed from battle and placed back on defense.
All creatures, characters, etc. will have their Suspend which shows how many Actions they have each Response. If a creatures uses all their Actions, they are fatigued until the next Response. (See Fatigue.)
To find out when the creature will use the abilities beyond the first round, the creatures initiative will show its use of abilities (See Initiative.). In this case, rather than being used for aggression, which is the most common, the players will divide the initiative by 5. So a creature with an initiative of 10 will use their triggered abilities every 2 rounds. One with an initiative of 20 will use theirs once every 4 rounds.)
Note 3: When a creature attacks with an ability, their Soulmere will drop. Once that Soulmere drops to 0, they can no longer use the ability. Each ability will cost 10 Soulmere for the creature to use. Beings that can pull Soulmere from creatures can actually stop the creature from using abilities if they can pull their Soulmere. This will infuriate the creature, however, and all stats will get +5 until the creature is defeated
Defend Phase:
The Opponent may now choose the defenders of each attack (Minus targeted or Sneak Attacks). To do this, take the attackers physical attack, mental attack, etc. and subtract it from the defender’s physical defense, mental defense, etc. If the amount is higher than the attacker, then the defender takes no damage. (Note: See Reverb) If the attacker’s points are higher than the defenders then the defender will take that damage. (See Attack/Defense , Targeted and Sneak Attack.)
Each defense costs 1 Action, or more if using an ability, and once the character is out of actions they will fatigue. Fatigued, the character can not defend or use abilities, thus all damage goes against their life directly. (Certain abilities will make this a bit different, but the abilities will explain that.)
Damage Phase:
All damage dealt to life is reduced from the life total and those that have a life total reduced to 0 or below are removed to the cemetery. (There are certain creatures, characters, etc. that this does not apply to, but their cards, or their abilities will explain as such. In these cases, once reduced to 0, if they can not gain live within 1 rd., they are considered forfeit and thus still lose the game.)
Note: Melaneys play a very different way. (See Melaney)
Counter Attack Phase:
If a player has not taken more than 1/2 life during an attack, they can counter attack. They must have Actions remaining. They must have an ability that allows them to counter attack (This can be in the form of a weapon, an ability, a spell, etc.).
Counter Attacks are 1/2 the attack of the weapon in most cases. There are abilities, weapons, etc. that overcome this rule.
Note: Shock can be used to overcome this rule. (See Shock Pts.) The defending creatures, character, etc. can now counter attack by ½ normal attack against the attacker. This is against the opponent’s armor or self. Shields cannot defend counter attacks without the abilities or training to do so.
Note: Ranged Attacks and Sneak Attacks cannot be Countered save with abilities that state as such.
Player x
The next player begins their next hand drawing 7 cards if this is their first round, or drawing their luck if it is their second round (See Luck.).
Once drawn, follow the phases back through the Trap Phase, just like the last player. Then follow the phases below.
Declaration Phase:
When done with the Suspend Phase, the player can then go to the Declaration Phase were they declare what each item, weapon, etc. are going to do this Response. If there is no move then they simply announce that their Response is complete and the next player draws 7 cards and starts at the Market Phase.
All attacks must be declared at this time, save for Immediates. The declaring party states what they are attacking with. During this phase, potions can be used to boost, defend, etc. After this phase, potions can not be used, so make certain to use them appropriately. (There are exceptions to this rule, but they will either be on the card, or in an ability of the user.)
Attack Phase:
Once declaration phase has ended, all those declared attacks, do so. No other attack phase may be used after this one, save with an override or ability. Every attack, weapon, spell, trap, ect. will have a Reach noted by the blue ball at the bottom of the card (See Reach). Most cards will also have Mobility telling you how far they can move noted by the red ball at the bottom of the card (See Mobility). If at any point someone is out of reach of an attacking party, the party is removed from battle and placed back on defense.
All creatures, characters, etc. will have their Suspend which shows how many Actions they have each Response. If a creatures uses all their Actions, they are fatigued until the next Response. (See Fatigue.) If a player attacks with a weapon and puts their own attack with the weapon, rather than just that of the weapon, they will use all their actions this round. This is considered a Full Attack and deals all the damage of the weapon, the character and the Rank at the same time. Normal attacks with weapons are only the weapon and the Rank cards attacks combined. (So if the characater has a weapon with 8 attack and a Rank card of 4 attack, then their attack is 12 each time they attack. If they want to put all their power into the attack, then they will use their character card as well, which in this case is a 6. Thus their attack would be 18, but they will use up all Actions for this and the next Response. Their fatigue will wear off after the next Response, so if they are fighting 3 or more people, they will be able to defend against during the Response after the person that moves next.)
Defend Phase:
The Opponent may now choose the defenders of each attack (Minus targeted or Sneak Attacks). To do this, take the attackers physical attack, mental attack, etc. and subtract it from the defender’s physical defense, mental defense, etc. If the amount is higher than the attacker, then the defender takes no damage. (Note: See Reverb) If the attacker’s points are higher than the defenders then the defender will take that damage. (See Attack/Defense , Targeted and Sneak Attack.)
Each defense costs 1 Action, or more if using an ability, and once the character is out of actions they will fatigue. Fatigued, the character can not defend or use abilities, thus all damage goes against their life directly. (Certain abilities will make this a bit different, but the abilities will explain that.)
Damage Phase:
All damage dealt to life is reduced from the life total and those that have a life total reduced to 0 or below are removed to the cemetery. (There are certain creatures, characters, etc. that this does not apply to, but their cards, or their abilities will explain as such. In these cases, once reduced to 0, if they can not gain live within 1 rd., they are considered forfeit and thus still lose the game.)
Note: Melaneys play a very different way. (See Melaney)
Counter Attack Phase:
If a player has not taken more than 1/2 life during an attack, they can counter attack. They must have Actions remaining. They must have an ability that allows them to counter attack (This can be in the form of a weapon, an ability, a spell, etc.).
Counter Attacks are 1/2 the attack of the weapon in most cases. There are abilities, weapons, etc. that overcome this rule.
Note: Shock can be used to overcome this rule. (See Shock Pts.) The defending creatures, character, etc. can now counter attack by ½ normal attack against the attacker. This is against the opponent’s armor or self. Shields cannot defend counter attacks without the abilities or training to do so.
Note: Ranged Attacks and Sneak Attacks cannot be Countered save with abilities that state as such.
Player Three
Player 1 Round 2
Draw as many cards as your luck allows. (See Luck.)
Player X Round 2
Draw as many cards as your luck allows. Repeat this for all players present.